Klarinet Archive - Posting 000704.txt from 2001/01

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] RE: playing along with students (was: mouthpieces)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 11:50:29 -0500

> I was very fortunate to be "brainwashed" with my teacher's tone
> when I was very young. To this day, I "play along" with all of my
> students for most of the lesson for that very reason, developing a
> concept and execution (that sounds like a terrible word) of tone
> production.

But, if you think you sound exactly or very nearly like your teacher, or
that your students sound exactly like you, there is a better than even
chance that neither of these are happening. We have to remember that the
sound of an instrument to the player is very different from the sound to a
listener, and also different to a nearby listener and a more distant one,
such as in an auditiorium at an orchestra concert. If you sat next your
teacher, listened, and then tried to make a tone that sounded to you exactly
like the teacher's example, you would be producing a different tone quality.

However, in my opinion, there are even more and better reasons for NOT
playing along with students in lessons. It is true that they need to hear
good examples of the tone of their instrument, in addition to matters of
musical interpretation. But, if the teacher is playing along with
everything or nearly everything the student does, then a student with a good
ear isn't really reading music, but is merely recreating what the teacher is
doing. I have seen many examples of students who have been instructed in
this manner who have very little idea of what music reading is all about.

Someone told me something early in my career which is somewhat
controversial, but which I have found to contain some truth. He said, "If
you are playing, you aren't teaching." True, you are giving examples of
various kinds, but this falls in the category of rote learning. I would
like for the students to take a little more initiative, so that they can
also play to the top of their ability when I am no longer sitting beside
them. When I play in lessons, I find that I can never concern myself 100%
with what the student is doing. There seems to be no way for me to totally
ignore my own playing. After all, as the teacher, I want to play as well as
I am able for the student, so I find myself thinking about how I am playing
the music, how I am sounding, how my reed is working, etc.

This is just how it seems to work for me. As the saying goes, "different
strokes......."

Ed Lacy
**************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy, Professor of Music
University of Evansville
1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
telephone (812)479-2252; e-mail: EL2@-----.edu
**************************************************************

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